Nicaraguan boy shares his story of his school, his new dreams and opportunities

Video: UNICEF

For more on this story, visit http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/nicaragua_55478.html

The picture I used to illustrate this blog portrays my darling niece Savannah, and my Dad reaching his arms out to help her down from a big tree.
This blog is dedicated to Dad, my hero, who taught his children to read, think, and discuss, to take responsibility for our own actions, and above all, to be loving and kind to others.

Louisiana man proved innocent after 22 years in jail

Image: The Innocence Project

A long-overdue serology test very recently demonstrated that Booker Diggins, a man imprisoned for rape and armed robbery since 1988, could not have committed the crimes for which he convicted. Although the prosecutors for the State had procured blood type evidence from the rape kit at the time of the trial, they withheld it from Diggins' defense team. As a result, the jury never heard that the man who committed the rape had type A blood, while Diggins has type O.

The Innocence Project, a nonprofit founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld, has been providing legal assistance to prisoners who could potentially prove their innocence through DNA testing. To date, 258 people have been exonerated by the Innocence Project, including 17 death row inmates. The number of cases that the Innocence Project works on, however, represents only a small portion of the total number of people in prison, on death row, or even executed for crimes they didn't commit. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, in the united States, 138 people in all have been exonerated from death row since 1973. Wikipedia contains a lengthy list of death row exonerees, and Northwestern University School of Law's Centre on Wrongful Convictions lists 39 people who have been executed despite compelling evidence of actual innocence. All over the country, lawyers, law students, and others donate their time and energy, working hard in the cause of justice for the wrongfully convicted, for the victims, and to protect others from the violent criminals who have gotten away and are still free to commit more crimes.

40 U.S. Billionaires Pledge Half Of Wealth To Charity (mirrored from NPR)

Image: NPR

Story by Pam Fessler


'Forty U.S. billionaires pledged Wednesday to give at least half of their wealth to charity — either during their lifetimes or after death.
That could be a big boost to nonprofits, which have suffered from the recent economic downturn....'

 Get the full story here

Matthew Leone, a Chicago musician injured while defending a woman from attack, receives outpouring of support

Image: Madina Lake's Myspace page

On the early morning of Tuesday, June 29th, Matthew Leone was walking down the street and came upon a man beating his wife. When Matthew stepped in to defend her, the man turned on him and savagely attacked him, beating him unconscious. Matthew's twin brother Nathan says that, though Matthew is slowly improving, it's going to be a long recovery, since Matthew suffered such severe blows to the head that they had to remove part of his skull to relieve the pressure from swelling. His medical bills have already soared to around $250,000, and he has no medical insurance.
After hearing of the story, help has poured in from strangers all over the world. The Smashing Pumpkins, the band most influential to Matthew and Nathan's own band, Medina Lake, played a relief concert that raised about $60,000 in ticket sales. The Leone brother's bandmates and friends have also set up a concert and auction series called Through the Pain to raise additional funds.
Hooray for Matthew, a brave and unselfish man; we all hope you heal soon!

"Happiness is the only good. The place to be happy is here. The time to be happy is now. The way to be happy is to help make others so." Robert Ingersoll

Medical trek in the mountains of Nepal treats almost 700 patients free of charge

Image: The Mountain Fund

I just found this great organization called the Mountain Fund, which works to improve access to healthcare, education and economic opportunity in mountain communities throughout the world, which include many of the poorest. Here's one of their latest exploits, as described by Ari Stern :


'This spring, The Mountain Fund took another amazing and diverse group of people from all over the world on a medical trek through the Rasuwa District of Nepal, where we have been working for the last 10 years. We had members from Canada, the US, Sweden, the UK, and Germany. While only about half the group was comprised of medical professionals, everybody in the group was fully able to contribute to the needs of the people of Rasuwa. We hosted three medical camps over the course of 10 days seeing close to 700 patients. The busiest member of our group was Pete, an optometrist from Muscatine, Iowa. He diagnosed an 8 year old with glaucoma…as well as gave some much needed glasses to a 7 year old boy whose can now really see the world for the first time. Pete, of course, was not the only busy person on the trip…everybody kept busy organizing, seeing patients, and giving out medicines.

And, as a bonus, everybody really enjoyed the trek itself. We had some wonderful comments at the conclusion of the trip. Pete, our optometrist for the trip, said “this is my 14th trip and comparing other organizations…this is the best organized, best led trip…I would certainly recommend this [trip].” Jon, a pilot, said “I was impressed with the flexibility, the lack of bureaucracy, the lack of egos….I felt like everything we were doing had the mission in mind and helping whoever needed help.” Farah, a pulmonologist from Alaska who has participated in other international medical endeavors, said “its wonderful to see a medical camp that has involved the community itself and left somebody behind to take over…that was really refreshing.”

Our three medical camps were held in Kalikastan, Thulo Syabru, and Thambauchet. The patient ailments ran the gamut of the medical spectrum ranging from skin infections to burns to gastric complaints to lung problems. The vast majority of the people in Rasuwa are subsistence farmers whose only access to medical care is that which is provided by our hospital, clinics, and the medical treks we do several times a year.

We have been fortunate enough to see a big change in not only the people’s access to healthcare in the district but also a clear improvement in infant, child, and maternal mortality. This work could not be done without the brave and ambitious people of Rasuwa, many of whom have significantly contributed to our efforts there as well as your donations and support.'